There has never been an apparatus that can both scan a document and capture a second unrelated image and internally combine the document image with the unrelated image. There are times when it would be convenient to capture an image of an object as is done with traditional scanners and also capture an image of the person scanning the object. For example, a teacher in a distance learning situation who wishes to discuss an important document might want to scan the document and also project an image of herself to students at remote locations. The need thus exists for an apparatus that can capture both an image of a document (or even of a three-dimensional object) and an image of an unrelated object, i.e., an image of the teacher. There is also an existing need for a small form factor apparatus.
Manufacturers have attempted to produce small form factor document scanners for decades. Originally, scanners were bulky, space consuming devices. Ultimately, a desktop type scanner was deemed desirable. The desktop scanner would solve the size problems associated with the original scanners. However, the desktop scanner, no matter its size, would have been limited in the number of functions that could be accomplished. Further, the desktop scanner required a sheet transfer mechanism to intake and output sheets through the scanner. The more features that were added to a desktop scanner, the bulkier the scanner would become. Thus, there was no desire to add a feature such as a second imaging device as it would have unnecessarily added to the size and/or weight of the desktop scanner. There was never a need to image two subjects using the same device because the objective of the desktop scanner the maintenance of a small size; thus, only a single image capture device was ever employed in a desktop scanner.
At most, the desire to add a second image capture device would have been to increase processing speed of a scanning device. However, processing speed would more likely been increased by increasing the scanner's feeder mechanism speed. Adding a second camera would only have increased the size of the camera, thereby subtracting from the goal of a desktop scanner, which is to reduce its size. Certainly, no person ever would have added a camera for the purposes of capturing a non-document image.